However, the guy with the flush should have gone all in after the flop.

It may, but you saw what slow playing got him. The winning hand needed cards on both the turn and the river to beat him. On these on line sites it seems that winning hands get cracked all the time like that, regardless of how you play it. I would say 75% of the time I have had pocket Kings, and Ace would come out on the flop.

Just curious, but wouldn't that pretty much scare everyone off their hands unless they had an ace?

So I am at the final table at a local casino. There are about ten of us left. I have a somewhat weak hand - King/3.

I had been getting lousy cards all night. I only made the final table because I stayed out of most of the action and I won two or three really big pots. I kind of coasted to the final table. I was one of the smaller stacks at the table when I got the King/3. I had not been dealt a decnt hand in quite some time so I called (the previous four people before had folded).

The next two people fold. The player on the button then takes forever. He is staring at the player on the big blind and constantly looking at his chips. My best guess is that I think he is trying to make a move and trying to steal the blinds and my call. He raises which pretty much puts me all in. The blinds fold and I go all in. The guy calls because it is only a few more chips to him. He turns over an 8/5 off suit. I turn over my King/3 and he completely flips out. He is actually yelling "you play a King/3." He is complaining to anyone who will listen about how bad my play was. I am very quiet at the table so I dont respond to him.

I hit a King but it did not matter because he did not pair up his 8 or 5. He goes on and on about how bad my play was. I ignore him. Ironically, he goes all in a few hands later when I am the big blind. It is only a few chips more for me so I call. I had a 7/4 off suit and he had King/10. LOL, I end up w/ a set of 7's. He's eliminated.

At this point he is boiling. "You wont go far in this game playing King/3!"

I finally reply and tell him "I did not play King/3."

"The hell you didn't. You doubled up on me playing King/3!" he says.

"Nah, I played you. Everyone knew you trying to make a move. You had nothing and everyone knew it." Again, I am stone cold quiet at the tables so all the regular players were surprised to even hear my voice. I then go back into quiet mode and up splitting the table when it was down to two of us. Not a bad night.

I was at the final table of a tournament. I had pocket 4's. I called a small raise (twice the big blind). The flop was 10, 8, 4, all hearts. I did not have a heart. At this time I bet the pot. Everyone folds except for one guy who re-raises all in. I pretty much have this guy figured out. I put him on Ace high with one heart. I thought and thought and decided to call.

My read was pretty close. He had a King and the nine of hearts.

Of course the turn was a heart and he made his flush. The board did not pair so I did not improve to a boat on river.

My legs were pretty much chopped off and I was blinded out shortly after - out of the money!

Now we all pretty much know what the book says and "what I should have done" but everyone knows the same things these days. With so many players you can't always do "what the book says."

So in the situation above, not necessarily what should I have down, but what would you have done?

Hmm... while trip 4's is nice, that still leaves a few outs for the other guy as he could have been holding 10's or 8's. Depending on how the guy was playing before this (bluffing and whatnot) I would have assumed he held the flush when he went "all in".

So, I would have folded as I tend to play pretty conservatively (probably why I don't win very often)

That is definitely the smarter way to go. I think I was playing my read on him more than my cards. I read him correctly. The only better thing I could have done was go all in instead of betting the pot. That way I could win by having the best hand or by him folding. By calling, I could only win if I had the best hand. This particular player likes to bluff and hollywood a lot. My read was right but like you said, there were too many ways for me to lose. I think that is a bad habit I have. I am pretty good at reading my opponents - which is good but that gives me a false confidence. I was confident because I had him figured out not because my hand was that strong.

Since you essentially read his hand correctly, the real decision was whether you should risk nearly all your chips versus his draw. He had 17% of the cards in the deck that could help him and two chances to hit the flush. Perhaps a larger raise after the flop could have pushed him out since he was on a nine high flush draw...he could have been scared by a higher flush or that you had already made the flush. Trips are a pretty hard hand to lay down, but I think I may have played as Jayson suggested and folded thinking he already had the flush. Numerically, you probably were still a favorite before the turn, but you never know what card will hit next.

Man, that's a tough one. Given that it's the final table, perhaps close to the money, knowing the other player bluffs and hollywoods alot, and you have a 3 of a kind, it would have been a coin flip for me as to whether I would have stayed in the hand. Since I'm still pretty much a novice player and have no tournament experience, I probably would have folded after the re-raise (chickened out is more like it).

Dale, that 5-2 hand is awesome. Is that coin with a "D" the button? If so, the next 2 players must have been the small and big blinds, and you still played the hand. I think I would have folded, oh, about 100% of the time in that scenario. Flopping the straight flush next is crazy awesome. Wonder what the odds of that are?

Wow! I did not notice it was a straight flush. I thought it was just a straight. Very nice indeed! Queen/3 is my version of your 5/2. Although they can't connect, I seem to do pretty good with that hand.

I'm not liking that set of chips, to disco like for me. I would have rather of had this set which MR was supposed to come out with which we talked about in the Other Collectibles section of the forum long ago. Looks like a nicer set & none of that neon glow, to bad it never came through.